In practice, our participation in carbon markets has only served to help drive our separate emissions reductions target further. Purchasing carbon credits sets an internal price on carbon that drives investments into the business changes needed to achieve our emissions reduction goal. As an organization decreases its emissions, it directly reduces the number of carbon credits it must purchase to achieve net zero. The “price on carbon” is, at a minimum, the cost of buying those credits. This creates an additional financial incentive for organizations like ours to invest in solutions that reduce emissions, making “business as usual” less desirable than innovation. This perceived loophole in climate targets is closing rapidly since the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) entered the scene, followed by the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) which “is developing a Claims Code of Practice to guide credible, voluntary use of carbon credits and associated claims.” However, the variability of integrity to date has hampered the growth of the market since companies are afraid of triggering a greenwashing backlash if they make a mistake on their climate journey. According to the Twitter 2022 Marketing Report, mentions of corporate greenwashing have grown 158% over last year. However, the urgency of the climate crisis demands we use every tool we have. While expectations around integrity continue to evolve, every organization must hold itself to high moral standards and make choices that accelerate us toward our shared global goal of net zero. No one should sit on the sidelines, stymied because of the fear of potential backlash. Companies should use carbon credits, just not instead of taking other actions. Buying quality credits is hard, and it shouldn’t be. The next challenge is complexity. Businesses like ours are working hard to buy high-quality carbon credits. But doing so and navigating the rapidly-evolving voluntary carbon market is challenging. Knowing how to buy what from whom is difficult for even the largest corporate sustainability teams, and it shouldn’t be. That’s why in 2021 we helped create the business alliance for scaling climate solutions (BASCS), which “aims to gather and disseminate information and opportunities for and from peers, practitioners, and experts, including sharing best practices, funding opportunities, and research and insights to scale and improve climate solutions,” including via carbon credits. This year we’re excited to bring together our technology and ecosystem to address this challenge head-on, based on our core values. With the Net Zero Marketplace — built on Salesforce’s own Commerce Cloud platform — we’ve created a seamless e-commerce experience for organizations to find innovative projects and connect with ecopreneurs around the world. We’re also partnering with industry-leading carbon credit providers and independent third-party carbon credit raters to help buyers identify quality projects, bringing transparency and trust to this complex market. With detailed information, clear pricing, and third-party ratings for most projects, we’re taking steps to strip away complexity and put the power in the hands of organizations to decide which carbon projects align with their priorities, standards, and broader emissions reduction goals. 8 | A JUST TRANSITION TO A NET ZERO, NATURE POSITIVE WORLD